Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Sunday, January 12, 2014 Read John 2:1-11 So far in John’s gospel, the main character in the narrative has been John the Baptist. The story of Jesus has been told in relationship to him. John the Baptist has been put on display as a prime witness to Jesus and John has written the story to demote John the Baptist and exalt Jesus. While this likely was true at the time, John’s emphasis of the demotion of John the Baptist likely also speaks to the time of the writing of John’s gospel when followers of John the Baptist persisted and may have even been a threat to John’s community. We will encounter John the Baptist again in John’s gospel, but clearly at this point Jesus takes center stage. We may recall that the very first episode that Mark tells us about is the encounter between Jesus and a demon in the synagogue of Capernaum. Luke begins his story with Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth. John begins with an episode only he shares – the wedding at Cana in Galilee. As we read the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee, we encounter several features will meet over and over again in John’s gospel. This is a story that seems simple enough on the surface level but becomes more mysterious the more we contemplate it. The first feature we encounter is that when Mary tells Jesus that they have run out of wine, Jesus’ response is sharp and he rejects her request. Why did Mary tell Jesus about the need? What did she expect? The narrative provides no answers to those questions. Jesus response assumes that she expects him to do something about the need. We don’t expect Jesus to reject Mary’s request, if it really was one, but he does. And he does it in a rather blunt way. In our own slang it would be like saying, “What’s it to ya, woman?” The reason Jesus gives for his rejection of her request is that his “hour” has not yet come. This word “hour” will be an important concept for John. It is a code word that refers to Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. But what does providing wine at a wedding have to do with that? Mary is persistent in spite of Jesus’ harsh rejection. And then, in a pattern that will repeat itself throughout the gospel, Jesus does what he had just refused to do. Why does Jesus reject and then do what he said he wouldn’t do? We will need to think about that as we move through this gospel. At this point Jesus provides wine for the guests who have run out of wine. And it is no small amount – about 120 gallons! Such an amount has made teetotalers squirm. And it is not just ordinary wine, it is the best of wine! The result is that Jesus’ disciples believe in him. Didn’t they already believe in him? Or, are these different disciples from the ones we have already met? There is much in this story that is veiled from view. How are we to unpack it? There are some who have turned everything in this story into a symbol in hopes of making sense of the story. To be sure there is symbolism involved but we need to be careful not to overdo things. Likely the wine that has run out is meant as a symbol of Judaism that has grown stale and ineffective. And likely the new wine, the best wine, is meant as a symbol of the new faith and life Jesus is bringing. Likely the abundance of wine is meant as a symbol of the abundance of life that Jesus brings. In the end the whole episode likely functions for John as one more story of how Jesus replaces the old with the new. But this story is not as clear as some others. It will be best if we wait awhile to think about why Jesus might first reject a request and then do the very thing that has been requested. We will encounter that idea many times as we move forward and we can suspend talking about it now. It will be best if we also suspend talking about Jesus’ “hour” for the time being since that too will be repeated many times. But what about the punch line of the story – “this, the first of his signs … revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him?” There is no reason to suppose that the disciples referred to in this episode are not the same disciples we have met earlier. We have already talked a bit about how John conceives of “faith” as something that one experiences in degrees. Not all faith is sufficient faith. That might be troublesome for us because we don’t usually think of faith in this way. And we are very aware that our own experience of faith is often very mixed. We are very aware that our faith is often frail and weak. Is John telling us that our experience of faith is faulty? I don’t think so. We will not be able to finally answer our questions at this point, but we need to pay attention to what John is doing and about how John talks about faith. Our understanding and his are likely different at this point. The use of the word “sign” is important here. We will encounter signs again and again. And John will invite us to consider whether or not “sign faith” is sufficient. Perhaps it is not our faith that is in question here but the faith of the disciples. Is their “sign faith” sufficient faith? We may have to wait and see. This story is not an easy story to comprehend. The more we muddle into it the more veiled and mysterious it becomes. Maybe we will need to look back at the story from a better vantage point later in the John’s gospel.